The National Rifle Association’s newly filed 2024 tax forms paint a stark picture of an organization in sustained decline, with revenue dropping for the sixth straight year — even during a presidential election cycle, which, in the past, boosted the gun group’s coffers.
For decades, the NRA served as the gun industry’s most powerful political shield, blocking legislation and shaping public policy to protect manufacturers from liability and regulation. The organization’s financial collapse raises questions about the industry’s vulnerability as one of its primary lobbying forces continues to weaken.
The 2024 filings reveal that the NRA’s 501(c)(4) entity brought in less than half of the revenue that it did at its peak in 2016, a troubling trajectory for an organization that once wielded considerable political influence. Before the organization’s recent scandals, the NRA typically saw its revenue increase in presidential election years, growing by 17 percent in 2012 and nine percent in 2016. The 2024 stagnation suggests the group’s financial woes run deeper than typical off-year fluctuations.
NRA Membership Reaches New Low
Perhaps most concerning for the NRA’s future is its membership collapse. Membership dues have long been an important revenue source for the NRA, and the recent filing reflects that revenue from membership dues plummeted 16 percent from 2023, hitting a 16-year low. The NRA now collects just 30 percent of the membership dues it brought in in 2018, reflecting what appears to be an ongoing membership crisis for the NRA.
NRA Revenue from Membership Dues
legal costs and political spending
Despite a slight decrease, the NRA’s spending on outside legal counsel remained extraordinarily high in 2024, consuming 21 cents of every dollar of revenue — nearly ten times the proportion the organization spent in 2017. The Brewer law firm alone received $22.1 million in 2024, payments that came during the NRA’s unsuccessful trial defense against the New York Attorney General.
Additionally, the NRA’s political arm, the Institute for Legislative Action (NRA-ILA), reported its second-lowest spending level since at least 2013, totaling just $11.2 million. This represents only 15 percent of what the organization spent on legislative advocacy in 2016, raising questions about the NRA’s continued capacity to influence elections and policy debates.
The NRA did manage to narrow its operating deficit from $33 million in 2023 to $6.6 million in 2024, largely through aggressive cost-cutting and the sale of investments. Total spending decreased by nearly 14 percent to its lowest level since at least 2008, dipping below $200 million for the first time since then. However, the organization has now run deficits in six of the past eight years.
Golden Parachutes for Exiting Executives
The IRS filings also document the financial end of the Wayne LaPierre era. The longtime executive, who resigned in January 2024, received nearly $1.2 million in total compensation in 2024, including more than $811,000 from his retirement plan and $150,000 in accrued vacation pay.
The tax filing further notes that the NRA determined consultant Marion Hammer, a former President of the NRA, had not rendered promised services and that the NRA would seek to recoup $1.4 million in payments. Hammer is currently suing the organization for breach of contract.
Taken together, the NRA’s 2024 tax filings suggest an organization struggling to maintain its relevance and influence in American politics, constrained by legal troubles, membership losses, and financial pressures that show no signs of abating. Given the NRA’s decision to replace LaPierre with Doug Hamlin, a former publisher of Guns & Ammo who worked closely with the gun industry, it will be interesting to see how the NRA’s relationship with the industry evolves in the coming years. In interviews, Hamlin has said that one of his goals is to “rebuild the trust of the… industry”1Gun Talk Radio interview with Doug Hamlin, June 2, 2024, https://x.com/Guntalk/status/1797425902944715068 , at 5:45. and “prove to the industry” that “the NRA is going to make it.”2Shooting News Weekly, “EXCLUSIVE: An Interview With New National Rifle Association EVP and CEO Doug Hamlin,” May 31, 2024, https://www.shootingnewsweekly.com/2024/05/31/exclusive-an-interview-with-new-national-rifle-association-evp-and-ceo-doug-hamlin/.